


their very humaness

by elumish



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Gen, Non-binary Q
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 09:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10716291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish
Summary: The first time Q wears a dress to a formal function, it takes four minutes of Bond flirting with her before he realizes that she is, in fact, his quartermaster.





	their very humaness

The first time Q wears a dress to a formal function, it takes four minutes of Bond flirting with her before he realizes that she is, in fact, his quartermaster. At which point he jerks away from her, hands shoving into his pockets like they need a defense. “ _Q_?”

Q smiles at him, his expression turning a little wry. She hadn’t particularly been flirting back, but any indication of interest drops from her eyes. “Hello, Bond.”

“You’re—”

“In a dress, yes. Well spotted, Bond. I’m sure you’ve seen one before.” Her lips are painted a scarlet red, one shade lighter than her dress, high-necked and dipping demurely low in the back. “Alas, it does nothing to hide the boniness of my figure, but you’d be surprised how few tailors want to make a suit that actually fits me.”

Bond’s eyebrows go up, and he looks discomfited. It’s an entertainingly unusual look on him. “So you’re—”

“When forced to answer, I would usually consider myself a woman, yes. It’s no longer the 1950s; trousers do not automatically indicate a man.”

Bond finally seems to get himself together, because he draws himself up, saying, “Everyone refers to you as a man. Even M calls you ‘he’.”

Q purses her lips. “I am a man as well, just as much as I’m a woman. More or less.”

“But why the ruse?”

Her smile sharpens. “Firstly, that is no more a ruse than this is; I am as much a man as I am a woman. Perhaps this is your problem during missions, 007—you never learned how to listen. And secondly, if the first time you had met me, in front of that painting of a ship, I had been in a dress and heels, would you have ever respected me the way you do now? MI6 is still a man’s world, no matter what Eve and the former M accomplished, and you, Mr. Bond, are a chauvinist. Professionally, I present as a man, because it is simpler, and because it is also what I am.”

Bond frowns at that. “Why not always dress like a man, then?”

Q shrugs “Why should I? Out here, it’s not my job to make you more secure in your chauvinism. I won’t be just a man just because it would make you a little more comfortable.” She looks past Bond to see Eve smiling at a man like she’s about to seduce him and then eat him like a praying mantis. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go talk to someone who doesn’t lose what few brain cells they have the second they see a bit of cleavage.”

Bond opens his mouth, but Q just steps past him, heading over to Eve and the man who’s inching closer and closer to the edge of the abyss without even knowing it. She has no time for men’s nonsense, no matter that she also is one.

**Author's Note:**

> In this drabble, Q is broadly bigender but fluctuates between feeling more female and feeling more male depending on the day. She pronouns are used in this case because she is currently feeling more female and so thinks of herself that way.
> 
> Please tell me if I got something wrong about writing a non-binary/bigender character. This was just a headcanon I wanted to play around with, but there is always space to learn.


End file.
